Writing a Will: Essential for Every Parent

It may seem that writing a will is not a priority to many people – especially if you are young and in reasonably good health. However if you have children and have built up some valuable assets in your life so far, then writing a will should be one of the most important documents you will ever complete.

Appointing A Guardian

Writing a will is not all about deciding who should inherit your estate when you die, but is about any plans you might have that you wish to be followed through in your absence. In your will, you can appoint a guardian to care for your children until they become adults – the last thing you would want was for the care of your children to be decided by the courts. Although wills can be disputed, challenging a will is not easy, and can cause significant stress on your partner and children. In writing a will you can also stipulate how much of the estate you would like to leave to your children. If there was no will then what they would entitled to would be limited under the rules of intestacy.

The Rules of Intestacy

If you die without writing a will, then your estate falls under the rules of intestacy, meaning that your immediate family will only receive a certain value of your estate. The rules are different for different situations, however if you are married and have children and if your estate is worth over £250,000 then your spouse would receive the this amount and only life interest in half of the remaining value. Your children would receive the other half of the remaining value. If your estate was under £250,000 then your spouse would receive all of it and your children would get nothing.

According to DisputingWills.co.uk, any problems in writing a will can be prevented in the first instance by receiving assistance from a solicitor. In choosing to write a will you are safeguarding your child’s future, and you will be safe in the knowledge that the rest of their life can be a happy one.